At last, November and its grey skies have caught up with us. It seems you can't always get away with it. But this less luminous weather was a good opportunity to leave the coast and the sea for a bit and go see something different. So we headed east toward Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sarajevo. And if we were looking for something different, we definitely found it...
The difference is visible as soon as you cross the border. The atmosphere, the scenery — we immediately felt that we had entered a different world. Bosnia is not part of the European Union and is also a predominantly Muslim country, so suddenly the minarets replaced the church steeples and we could hear the call to prayer. First culture shock...
Bosnia was also at the heart of the conflict that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, a war that lasted more than three years, and 30 years later the scars are still very visible, both on the landscape and in the collective memory.
We arrived in Sarajevo in the late afternoon. The parking spot we had chosen as our base was in a fairly modern neighbourhood, with office towers, shopping centres, cafés, etc. So far, nothing unusual for us. But during the short half-hour walk to the city centre, we discovered a somewhat surreal setting of brand-new buildings standing next to more or less dilapidated ones, where bullet impacts are still clearly visible. Sarajevo did endure a 1500-day siege during the war... Another shock 😔.
Sarajevo is also the site of a major event in 20th-century history: the assassination on Sunday, June 28, 1914, of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and his wife Sophie by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip — the event that triggered the First World War. You can even stand exactly where the assassin fired!
But we knew there was much more to see, and since we also wanted to understand, we booked a guided tour for the next day. One of the advantages of travelling in low season: once again we were lucky enough to have a guide all to ourselves, and Dina spent more than three hours telling us about her city, her country, its culture, the war, life during the war, and trying to explain it all to us — because it’s far from simple. Even though at first glance, yes, it's fairly simple. Bosnia is: an independent kingdom in the Middle Ages, followed by four centuries of Ottoman rule, 40 years of Austrian occupation (up until the First World War), then the Yugoslav period (including the communist era), the war from 1992 to 1995, and finally the Bosnia and Herzegovina of today. And in the city, each period is clearly visible when you go from east to west.
To the east is the Turkish quarter, Baščaršija, the heart of the city with its narrow streets, its wooden and stone houses, and its mosques — a lively neighbourhood at any time of day or night, with a half-Eastern, half-Western vibe. It was our favourite part, and where we also tasted local specialties, including Bosnian coffee, which is basically like Turkish coffee 😋
Right next to it is the Austrian quarter, with its wide avenues, its architecture, and its Austrian atmosphere. More upscale, but also a lot less warm and lively.
The boundary between the two neighbourhoods is clearly marked! A crossroads between two worlds that forms the cultural richness and pride of the city.
Further west, during the communist period, the industrial and working-class neighbourhoods developed. Dina told us that communism brought work, equality, and… alcoholism 😅. The remains of this period are much less picturesque.
And finally, the post-war reconstruction, which brings colours to the dark past, as seen here with the city hall — the former National and University Library, which was burned down during the siege of Sarajevo:
All of this creates an eclectic whole with great cultural diversity and where differences don't rhyme with division. In the small city centre, minarets stand beside church steeples (both Catholic and Orthodox) and the synagogue. In Sarajevo, people respect one another, pray to whichever God they choose, dress however they want — and on December 24th at midnight, Sarajevans of all religions gather in front of the cathedral to eat, drink, and celebrate together. It shows that wars and conflicts are unfortunately often brought on by political and/or religious men, that end up tearing families apart and pushing neighbours who had lived side by side in harmony for generations to suddenly hate each other… 😢
We give many thanks to Dina and to the other Bosnians we met in Sarajevo, in the lovely city of Mostar, and in the little village of Počitelj, where we also stopped. They are models of resilience, tolerance, and of living together in peace. And even if Bosnia may seem a bit sad at first glance (especially under the grey skies and chill of November), with villages that look abandoned, houses often run-down, and trash — lots of trash — we are very happy we did this escapade. It shook us up, we admit it, but the warmth and smiles of the people, their positive outlook on life despite the terrible things they lived through, and the happiness of simply having the freedom to live how they want gave us a big life lesson.
Jérôme and Sophie
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